May 13, 1969. What We Learnt in School : Fact or Fiction?

May 13th 1969 is perhaps the darkest day in Malaysian history to date.

It was the day of the riots.

By my mom's accounts, it was a horribly violent day, and many lives were lost, and a great rift was created between the two largest communities in Malaysia at the time : the Malays and the Chinese.

THE TEXTBOOK VERSION

What we learnt in form 3 history was that it was the Opposition that triggered these events, that their win of parliamentary seats caused some taunts to be exchanged between the Alliance and the Opposition.

And apparently, this caused a supposed 'spontaneous outburst of violence', which in turn erupted into a full blown racial riot. Of course, they conveniently leave out the body count.

Why had the Alliance lost in the first place?

The answer : for the same reason they lost in these recent elections... because the non-Malays had become wary of empty promises, and the lack of support for their own people. At the time, the Constitution was still young and fresh, and very open to manipulation (what am i saying?? it's STILL being manipulated!!) . The Alliance needed to maintain its very comfortable 2/3s of the Parliamentary seats, to enable the continued exploitation of the people.

But there is an added point here : it wasn't just the nons that were disgruntled with the government; the Malays themselves were doubtful of UMNO's ability to deliver what was promised.

Malaysians at the time were done with a Government that only benefited the rich, and snided the poor. The middle and lower class for all races, Malay or not, were beginning to be left behind.

All this factored in lead to a dramatic loss for the Alliance : UMNO lost 17 parliamentary seats mainly to Parti Islam; MCA won 13 seats, while the Oppostion won 20; MIC won only 2 out of their 3 mandatory seats. (UMNO - United Malays' National Organization ; MCA - Malaysian Chinese Association, MIC - Malaysian Indian Council... together they made up the Alliance, which we now call Barisan Nasional)

THE CONSPIRACY

To say that the entire event rests in the hands of the Opposition is a grave injustice. This is where the conspiracy/propaganda comes to play: Apparently, in order for the Alliance / Government to gain control of the country again, they opted for the easiest way out : by creating a state of Emergency (Darurat).

This state enables the Government to dissolve, and reform when order is restored.

That's one huge loophole that enabled Razak to take the reigns (Tunku was the PM at the time of the riots, Razak the Deputy PM), and enforce policies that benefited him and his party, post-1969. (read : New Economic Policy (NEP))

What i'm saying is, Razak had a HUGE role in the riots (whether or not he hatched up the entire thing remains disputed) but, whatever it was, he and UMNO stood to gain. Whether Tunku knew about this is unknown, but he was feeling the heat.

He must've been thinkin : i made you my deputy PM and THIS is how you repay me?? after all the shit i went through for this country, you show no gratitude? you sly mo-fo!! (i'm adding this for drama)

after all this was over, as expected, Razak opted to give very little (or actually, no) voice to the Opposition in Parliament. And as predicted, despite the fact that he now had a nation of non-Malays who had officially lost all faith in the government, the Alliance and UMNO got the upper hand. He made sure his people knew who was boss (or rather, which race was boss).

not the clean-cut history text book version we're used to huh?

Ever heard of the Malay phrase "bapa borek, anak rintik"? (like father, like son).... well, i'm looking at Najib right now and thinking to myself (after i'd gathered this info) : dude, you are a XEROX COPY of your old man, doing whatever you want so long as you get power. (for those in the dark, remember, Najib IS Razak's SON.)

THE CASUALTIES

The riots erupted all over the place, although it was mostly centered in Kuala Lumpur. Chinese shophouses were burnt, people were slashed with the parang, trigger-happy police and army officers shot at (and this has been supported by several international media reports) Chinese who were seen around the streets.

But don't think this was just a one way street : Several Malays were caught in the crossfire too. And don't forget, one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole tree (or was it pie?)... some Malays were appalled were what they saw and acted to help those in need, Malay or not.

The official stats were : 137 killed - 18 Malays
342 injured
109 vehicles burned
118 buildings destroyed
2912 persons arrested, mostly curfew breakers

The indians were not affected as much in these riots. However, we did learn one valuable lesson : It would be naive on our part to trust the government after an incident like this.

THE AFTER EFFECTS

The after effects of the May 13th 1969 incident has resonated all the way into my generation, and will likely continue to do so for many years.

Unfortunately, it has created a state of constant distrust between the non-Malays and Malays, eventhough (as i have mentioned before) not all of them are to be blamed. These last elections, everyone was waiting for a riot to erupt.

Thankfully, nothing happened.

It is sad that because of this one incident, we were asked as a people to sacrifice the one thing that really mattered most to us : our UNITY as one people.

Am i saying that we're n0t united? think about it... are we multi-racial? or are we multi-racist? we tolerate when necessary, but behind closed doors backs who knows what we're saying about each other? (my next post will be on stereotyping... that's gonna be a hit! and it could get alot of people really riled up.)

The fact that government has chosen to actually (in the new textbooks) omit the may 13th incident altogether is proof of a fatal flaw in our system : we FEAR the truth.

but they always say the truth will set you free, right?

til my next post, peace out.

Malaysia, oh Malaysia.... where art thou?

Well, it seems i've rekindled a hidden urge to jot down all things good and lame.... I had a blog once, it lasted 1 month. That's a bleakin' record! hahaha, i'm hoping this blog lasts longer.

Actually, my decision to start this blog was this headline in the News Straits Times yesterday:

"Witness in MACC probe found dead"

The "witness" was Teoh Beng Hock, a political aide, family man, and father to be. He leaves behind a very distraught fiance who is 2 months pregnant.

I'm sure all of you are wondering, "what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

Well, let me put it this way :

I'm accustomed to expressing how much i disagree with the way the Malaysian Government has chosen to run things, usually on notes in Facebook or a change in my status, and for those who know me personally, then you know i can be pretty damn harsh sometimes....

Facebook's a great medium, but i figured, if i can log into facebook everyday, then why can't i blog just as often?

I have plenty of issues to discuss... politics, religion, race, prejudice, rights.... so be warned : this isn't a simple blog chronicling (is that a word?) my lifes or loves.... this blog is dedicated to all things that are conspiring in this country of mine.... good and bad (mostly the latter)

Please note, however : these are MY opinions, MY words, and what i say in this blog is MY RESPONSIBILITY

i am aware of how rumours get started, so this blog isn't a launching site. i'm only using facts that i quote from various sources. i will list my sources just in case you lot decide you wanna see the real thing for yourself.

sometimes the truth is hard to hear, but it needs to be said. how else are we planning to grow as a country? as a nation? as people?

if you guys notice, the heading states : They Must Think We Live On Mars; i'm referring to the government, and how they've chosen to hide the real facts from us, deeming us too stupid to handle the truth or figure it out for ourselves...

case in point : the police have ruled out foul play as c.o.d. in the Teoh Beng Hock case, instead they've classified it as "sudden death" (malaysiakini.com)

They must think we live on mars if they expect us to believe that statement... Mr.Teoh and his fiance were supposed to get registered on the day he died, he had called his friends to confirm their attendance at his wedding come October... Does this sound like a man ready to take a swan dive off a building? and why was he held for 11 hours (5.30pm to 3.45a.m)? what the hell were they asking him? he was just a witness! did they even bother recording the interview???

yup, ladies and gents, welcome to Malaysia, truly Asia... what you see is NEVER what you get.

with this, i hereby launch mindlessbots.blogspot.com...... dedicated to all Malaysians who refuse to be mindless, who have a voice and just want a place where it will be heard.

be seein' ya in the next post.